“Now suppose we again turn the medal and see what principles were inculcated by Pagan Egyptian moralists before the world was blessed with these modern improvements in ethics. In Egypt every city of importance was separated from its burial place by a sacred lake. The same ceremony of judgment which the Book of the Dead describes as taking place in the world of Spirit, took place on earth during the burial of the mummy. Forty-two judges or assessors assembled on the shore and judged the departed “soul” according to its actions when in the body, and it was only upon a unanimous approval of this post-mortem jury that the boatman, who represented the Spirit of Death, could convey the justified defunct’s body to its last resting place.
After that the priests returned within the sacred precincts and instructed the neophytes upon the probable solemn drama which was then taking place in the invisible realm whither the soul had fled. The immortality of the spirit was strongly inculcated by the Al-om-jah. In the Crata Repoa the following is described as the seven degrees of the initiation. After a preliminary trial at Thebes, where the neophyte had to pass through many trials, called the “Twelve Tortures”, he was commanded to govern his passions and never lose for a moment the idea of his God.
Then as a symbol of the wanderings of the unpurified soul, he had to ascend several ladders and wander in darkness in a cave with many doors, all of which were locked. When he had overcome the dreadful trials, he received the degree of Pastopkoris, the second and third degrees being called the Neocoris, and the Melanephoris. Brought into a vast subterranean chamber thickly furnished with mummies lying in state, he was placed in presence of the coffin which contained the mutilated body of Osiris covered with blood. This was the hall called “Gates of Death”, and it most certainly to this mystery that the passages in the Book of Job (xxxviii., 17) and other portions of the Bible allude when these gates are spoken of. In chapter x., we give the esoteric interpretation of the “Book of Job, which is the poem of initiation par excellence. “Have the gates of death been opened to thee? Hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death”, asks the “Lord” – i.e., the Al-om-jah, the Initiator – of Job, alluding to this third degree of initiation.
When the neophyte had conquered the terrors of this trial, he was conducted to the “Hall of Spirits”, to be judged by them. Among the rules in which he was instructed, he was commanded “never to either desire or seek revenge; to be always ready to help a brother in danger, even unto the risk of his own life; to bury every dead body; to honor his parents above all; respect old age and protect those weaker than himself; and finally, to ever bear in mind the hour of death, and that of resurrection, in a new and imperishable body.” Purity and chastity were highly recommended, and adultery threatened with death.
Then the Egyptian neophyte was made a Kristophores. In this degree the mystery name of IAO was communicated to him. The fifth degree was that of Balahala, and he was instructed by Horus, in alchemy, the “word” being chemia. In the sixth, the priestly dance in the circle was taught him, in which he was instructed in astronomy, for it represented the course of the planets. In the seventh degree, he was initiated into the final Mysteries. After a final probation in a building set apart for it, the Astronomus, as he was now called, emerged from these sacred apartments called Manneras, and received a cross – the Tau, which, at death, had to be laid upon his breast. He was a hierophant.”
H. P. Blavatsky
The Mark Of God: Understanding Your "I AM Presence" 